A Halloween Candy Contest
by BattyBat4
Summary: AU. "Let's make it interesting," Renji spoke. "A friendly little competition between us. The group that gets the most candy on baggers night, wins." Humans vs. Shinigami vs. Espada. Second Story in saga posted: A Thanksgiving Day Get-Together
1. Chapter 1

Posted 10-20-10, Edited 12-21-12  
A little Halloween fun, enjoy and please review!

**A (Halloween) Candy Contest**

**Chapter One**

_Friday, October 15__th__ 2010_

To anyone outside, the fourth grade class of Karakura Town Elementary would look like any other class. They sat in four rows, six deep. Friends talked with friends before school, passed notes during class and walked home together afterward. They wore the school uniform with only a few rebels here and there. Any prospective family would see a smiling, happy class. However, to those in the know, those who taught this class and the classes before (and, they suspected, those who would come after).

They knew.

They knew there was a divide that only the teachers and students were aware of. A rift of sorts between the students. Two rifts, actually. Each class was always divided into these three groups. Each fall all a teacher had to do was learn was who was in what group.

The fourth grade teacher was used to this after having taught for over twenty years. He was an older man, a young grandpa age if he had ever married. His hair and his beard were pure white already, something he blamed his students for. Thankfully he was a strict man; it only took new classes a few days to tone down the rebellious state. But they only ever toned it down so far.

And by now, Yamamoto-sama knew his new class was just the same.

Now, the first group, the "Normal" group, was what any 'fresh-out-of-college' teacher would expect in a class. They came every day, never missed a class. There were the girly-girls and tough guys, the jocks and nerds. However, each different type of student got alone surprisingly well with those in their group, whether or not they were the same type of student. The nerds eat lunch with the jocks and the popular girls with the shy, reclusive girls.

These groups had names here; names the students didn't realize their teacher knew about. They were names the teacher did not understand.

This group was labeled as such by the other two groups as well as by themselves. They were the 'Humans'.

Now the second group was better behaved than their rivals, they were the ones who A-ed on every test and homework assignment whether they seemed smart or not. They were in their seats before the bell, first to answer a question in class and first to offer aid to the teacher. Beginning teachers would claim they were the perfect model student, and Yamamoto-sama could see why, however he disagreed. While these students were 'A' students, they had a downfall. For them, it was their way or no way. They did things by the book; never put a finger out of order even if it was in everyone's best interest. Rules were made to be followed and they followed them even if the teacher told them to go about it a different route.

This group had labeled themselves and the others complied with their name. These 'Shinigami' were much like a government in every way.

The third group was the largest band of rebels and trouble makers a teacher could imagine. They were defiant and obeyed when they felt like it. They turned in half-finished homework and made sure there was a fight every lunch time. They taunted the other groups until someone broke down and the fight would begin. They were in detention every moment it was open, (any teacher who ran detention was sure to need a vacation afterwards.) Nothing a teacher did would ever get this group under control.

They called themselves 'The Espada'. This was the only name Yamamoto-sama could understand.

Each group had an even eight student. The Espada sat in the back two rows, the Humans in the middle two and the Shinigami in the front two. They did not converse outside their group and never would they agree to a partner project outside their group. Yamamoto-sama would have loved to torture them by making them do so but past experience had taught him not to do such a thing.

Yamamoto-sama shivered at the memory. He did not like reliving that particular week.

Looking up from his deck his eyes traveled across the room full of students, most of the front row had finished and turned in their test already. They sat quietly reading books. The rest still struggled through, the back rows looking more bored than anything else.

His gaze rested on the clock that hung on the back wall. The school day would be over in fifteen minutes, then the class would turn in their tests whether they were done or not. Letting out a breath of air he turned back to the homework he was grading.

The test continued.

-4-

Tatsuki finished her test just as the bell was ringing.

"Alright, your time is up, put your pencils down and turn in your tests," Yamamoto-sama called out.

Chairs scrapped against the floor as the students walked forward. No one spoke until all the test had been turned in. Once they were gathering up their things, conversation broke out.

"Tatsuki, have you decided what you're going to be for Halloween?" Orihime asked. Orihime was Tatsuki's best friend, they had been friends since kindergarten and they even lived next door to each other.

"Yeah, I got a good idea, what about you? Going to be a robot again?" Tatsuki asked.

"No, this year I'm going to be Lily." Orihime announced proudly.

"Lily?" Tatsuki asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, she'd one of the warriors from that new anime show, _The Shun Shun Rikka_, she kicks butt!" Orihime exclaimed, her fists punching at the air.

"Ok, ok, I get it," Tatsuki said, laughing, "How are you going to make her costume?"

Orihime stopped her actions, her face lighting up with excitement. "I can't tell you. It's going to be a surprise for everyone to see, but my brother is going to help me get it just right!" She did a little bounce. Orihime's brother, Sora, was her hero as well as her guardian; it was no surprise to Tatsuki that he would be helping.

"So," Orihime continued. "What are you going to be?"

"Hey are you guys talking about Halloween costumes?" a quiet voice spoke from their left. Ururu was standing by her desk, her bag all packed but she remained to listen to the girls.

"Yeah, have you decided what you're going to be yet, Ururu?" Orihime asked.

The shy girl shook her head. "I don't know yet."

"Well if you can't think of anything I have some ideas that would work perfectly for you!" Orihime said a smile on her face.

"What are they? I bet they'll be better than any of mine." Ururu said quietly.

"Well you could be Ayame from the anime _The Shun Shun Rikka_, I'm going to be Lily. Then we could all go trick-or-treating together!" Orihime exclaimed.

"Ok, sure." Ururu said, nodding in agreement. A rare smile graced her face at Orihime's invitation.

"You should smile more Ururu. You're really pretty when you smile." Orihime told her.

Across the room Ichigo and his friends were gathered together, their heads bent down over something on a desk. Their voices were really low, so much that Tatsuki couldn't even hear any voices from them.

"I wonder what they're doing," Tatsuki said, nodding to the group when Orihime gave her a confused look.

"Oh, I wonder if it's something for Halloween!" Orihime exclaimed. She raced over to the group. She had to get up on her tip toes to see over their bent heads but she must have seen what they were doing because the next thing Tatsuki heard was Orihime asking if the girls couldn't join them too.

"What? No, you would only slow us down." Mizuiro said.

"What are you saying Mizuiro, of course the girls can come, the more the merrier!" Keigo shouted, trying to hug Orihime. Tatsuki successfully blocked the boy and sent him to the ground.

"So what are you all planning over here?" she asked, seeing what appeared to be a hand drown map on the desk.

"Halloween night, we're compiling all the houses that give out the most candy. We're going to have the biggest load of candy of anyone this year!" Ichigo said, his gaze fixed on the map.

"So can we come?" Orihime asked again.

Tatsuki could see from the look in the boy's eyes that they weren't too fond of having a bunch of girls coming with them. But then Uryu spoke up.

"Having more people would increase our load," he explained. "And sometimes they give out more candy to girls."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ichigo said.

"Of course I'm right!" Uryu retaliated, glaring at the orange haired boy.

"Ok, fine you can come. Just as long as you don't slow us down or complain, ok?" Ichigo caved.

"Yeah!" Orihime's shout landed right in Tatsuki's ears, sending stars in front of her eyes.

"Hey! Keep it down over there!"

The group turned to see the blue-haired, blue-eyes bully glaring at them from across the room. Grimmjow sat at a desk with the Espada group around him; they too seemed to be in a meeting of sorts.

"Shove it, Grimmjow." Ichigo replied.

"What did you say!" Grimmjow growled, rising from his chair.

"I said, shove it!" Ichigo repeated.

"Why I outta," Grimmjow started over towards their little group.

"That is enough!" Yamamoto-sama stood between the boys and pushed them back towards their respective groups. "You have been told time and time again, no fighting, if you cannot settle your differences without using your fists you _will_ be put in detention. _Again_!"

The boys continued to glare at each other but nodded to their instructor.

"Come on," Uryu said, "Let's finish this outside; we'll have more privacy there."

Ichigo grumbled but followed his friend. The Human group all filed out, taking their books with them.

"So, what are you going as Chad? I think you should go as _The Incredible Hulk_. You would be perfect." Orihime said as they made their way outside.

"No, the Hulk isn't scary at all; Chad is going to be Bigfoot!" Keigo told her, his voice just a little loud in the crowded hallway.

"Oh, and what's so scary about Bigfoot, he isn't even real."

The group turned to see a classmate of their following them outside. His hair was bright red and pulled back in a high ponytail. If he wasn't a Shinigami, Tatsuki might actually like him.

"Bigfoot is too real!" Keigo shouted. "There are sightings of him all the time, all over the globe!"

"Yeah and how many have actually been caught or killed?" Renji countered. When Keigo couldn't answer Renji continued, "A big fat ZERO."

"Renji don't rile up the humans, they're not worth it." A pipsqueak of a girl walked up behind the red-haired boy. "If you're coming you better come now, you know nii-kun doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Yeah, I'm coming Rukia, and your brother can wait for all I care. It's fun to see the humans squirm," Renji said, grinning arrogantly at the group of friends.

"What's that Renji? Can't you do anything without the permission of the great Byakuya Kuchiki," Ichigo taunted him.

"Of course I can, he's not my parent. I can do what I want when I want!" Renji retorted.

"Renji," an ominous voice sounded from the sidewalk.

The boy standing there had long black hair that flowed to his shoulders. A book bag was hanging off his shoulder and he was glowering at Renji.

"Nii-kun," Rukia exclaimed, obviously she had not realized her brother was so near. Even though they were twins, Rukia and her brother were as different as twins come.

"We're leaving," Byakuya said.

"I'm coming, calm down," Renji murmured.

Byakuya only raised an eyebrow as if asking if he wasn't already calm. Byakuya turned with a single glare directed at Ichigo and left, Rukia hurrying to his side, she glanced back at them giving them a gloating look before the three of them turned out of the school yard, Renji following the two, sulking.

"What did I tell ya, he can't do anything." Ichigo said, turning towards a group of younger students. "Well I got to get my sister's home; we'll take about it this weekend. We still got two weeks, so we're good."

The four of them waved goodbye as the orange haired boy headed over to a group of younger students.

"Ok, if you really want to come," Keigo said, "you got to get good costumes, not something dumb like princesses or fairies. It's got to be cool. Second, be at the soccer fields tomorrow at one. We'll plan out the route then," he said, before running off to where the parents were picking up their kids.

Tatsuki agreed, answering that they would be there before turning her attention to Orihime who was watching as Ichigo was joined by his little twin sisters before leaving the schoolyard with them.

"Come on, Orihime, snap out of it," Tatsuki said, pulling the girl from her stare.

"Oh, right!" Orihime blinked out of her gaze, "Ururu, you want to come over tomorrow and work on the costumes together?"

Ururu looked unsure, "I'll ask Mr. Urahara if I can," she finally said. Mr. Urahara was Ururu's guardian. He took in Ururu and her brother, Jinta, when their parents died in a fire some time ago.

"I'm sure he will, come over sometime after one, k?" Orihime said.

"Orihime, you weren't listening. We have to be at the soccer fields at one if we want to go trick-or-treating with the boys."

"Oh, ok, then come to the soccer fields at one and we'll work on the costumes afterward!" Orihime corrected.

"Ok, I'll try," the shy girl replied.

"Come _on, _Ururu! I'm not waiting all day!"

The call came from a blond haired boy standing some yards away from them. Jinta, Ururu's younger brother, was always bossing the girl around. Tatsuki didn't get why she let him but she had never seen Ururu disobey Jinta.

The girl waved goodbye to the two of them and ran off to join her brother.

"So Ururu gets to see your costume but I don't?" Tatsuki asked, turning to her friend.

"Yep! It'll be a surprise! And what about you, you never said what you're going to be, Tatsuki," Orihime asked again as the two of them made their way out of the school yard.

"Well if you won't show me your costume before Halloween then I'm keeping my costume a secret too," Tatsuki said, grinning at her friend.

"That is so not fair Tatsuki. I told you who I'm going to be!" Orihime whined, leaning in front of Tatsuki.

"It doesn't matter," Tatsuki said.

"Oh, fine. You can see it once it's done, how's that?" Orihime asked.

"Ok."

"Now tell me what you're going to be!"

"Not until I see your costume, then I'll tell you."

"That is so not fair." Orihime whined again. Tatsuki smiled as they continued down the street.

They lived some seven blocks from school in a small neighborhood. Normally the two of them would stop by the park and play for a little bit before going home but the day was cold and Tatsuki wasn't too fond of staying outside today.

"Hey, who is that?" Orihime asked.

Tatsuki was about to ask who when she caught sight of a boy walking almost a block ahead of them wearing the same school uniform as them.

"It's just Cifer, why?" Tatsuki replied.

"I didn't know we went home the same way…" Orihime said quietly.

"What, how could you not know? We walked home this way all last year and you've never noticed him before?" Tatsuki asked, shocked.

"All last year? Really?"

"Well, yeah."

"Does he live very near to us?"

"I think so, maybe just a block away?" Tatsuki thought out-loud.

This lapsed Orihime into silence for some time. She watched the black haired boy walking ahead of them. His pace was slower than theirs and Tatsuki could tell they were gaining some ground on him. Four blocks later, he turned down the same street as they would. They were quite near to him now and Orihime was getting antsy.

"What's wrong?" Tatsuki asked her.

"Shh!" Orihime hissed. Her pace slowed considerable as they turned down the same road. The orange haired girl froze; the boy that had been at least thirty feet in front of them now stood just feet down the street, facing them. Orihime scrabbled to get behind Tatsuki.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tatsuki asked confused. Orihime said nothing as she hid behind her.

Ahead of them Cifer Ulquiorra stood watching them with his usual blank stare, he didn't say anything, nor did he move.

"What's your problem?" Tatsuki finally snapped at him. He did not respond but behind her Orihime started shaking.

Cifer looked for a little longer at Tatsuki and glanced to where Orihime had disappeared before turning and heading into the yard he stood in front of. He walked casually to the door, opened it and went in.

Not until the door had been shut for a few seconds did Orihime emerge.

"What was that all about?" Tatsuki asked her.

"N-nothing," Orihime said shakily. The girl hurried passed the yard and house and didn't slow until she was over half way down the street. Tatsuki jogged to catch up to her.

"What's wrong Orihime?"

"N-nothing, he's just…kinda scary, don't you think?"

"No."

"Well, he is to me…" Orihime said quietly.

Tatsuki watched the girl as they continued down the street. Orihime kept glancing over her shoulder and Tatsuki wanted to ask what else her friend was afraid of but before she could they had arrived at their own houses and Orihime bid her a quick good bye and ran inside.

Tatsuki stared after her best friend for a second before continuing on to her own house, confused.

_Saturday, October 16__th_

"We have to stop at that big white house over on Komi, they always give out those massive sized Hershey's bars," Keigo supplied as Uryu drew out their path on the map he had brought. The houses that had been listed were highlighted in yellow and Uryu was connecting the dots, so to speak.

"What about the block over in the Kashi development? They always let you take three pieces of candy." Tatsuki suggested.

"Ok, we got to go by them," Ichigo said, highlighting said block. He was in charge of the highlighter.

Orihime, Ururu and Tatsuki stood around the group of boys, watching as they planned out their night. They had been there for half an hour and so far it seemed this would be the longest walk Tatsuki had ever had for a Trick-or-Treat night.

"Alright! No way is anyone else going to beat us this year!" Keigo shouted, throwing his fist into the air as he jumped around on one foot.

"Who are we trying to beat anyway?" Tatsuki asked, failing to think of anyone they were competing with.

The boys all glanced up at her, their faces betraying horror at her question; all but Chad's at least.

"What? It's just a question." Tatsuki said.

There was a pause before Keigo spoke up.

"We're competing against everyone!" he exclaimed, as if it was obvious.

"Then how do you know if you've won?" Tatsuki deadpanned.

"We get the most candy…" Keigo said again, only this time he wasn't so sure.

"That's it? How do you prove that you've won? Isn't there some prize you get for wining?" she asked.

The boys just looked from one to the other, none of them sure how to answer.

This thought had never occurred to them. They had always done this for Halloween, competed to get the most candy…yet never had it occurred to them _how_ they knew they had won.

"You guys have never compared with anyone else have you?" Tatsuki asked, somewhat disappointed.

The black haired girl walked off, headed for the soccer field, letting the boys continue their planning, only with slightly less enthusiasm.

"Tatsuki that was mean," Orihime said, following her friend.

"What, the way they were talking makes you think they had someone to compete with but they don't. How can you win without competition?" Tatsuki aimed a kick at the ball she had brought. The ball smacked into the net of the goal after her assault.

"Still they do this every year; it seems like a lot of fun. And you just…" Orihime faded off.

Tatsuki retrieved her ball, waiting for her friend to continue. It wasn't until she returned with her ball that she noticed Orihime's expression.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tatsuki asked.

"Hu? Oh, oh it's nothing! Nothing at all! Nope, nothing's wrong!" the orange haired girl bubbled on. Tatsuki knocked her in the head gently.

"You're babbling. Something is wrong." She said.

"Oh, um… it's just…" the girl faded off again, her eyes pulling to look to their left.

Tatsuki turned in the direction but nothing was there.

"What is it? I don't see anything." As she was speaking a familiar black hired figure turned the corner of the street. It headed it their direction at a leisurely pace. Tatsuki blinked.

"How did you know he was coming?" She asked, turning away from Cifer to look at Orihime.

"How? ...um… L-Let's go back to the guys! Maybe they need our help again. I just thought of another house they should go by!" Orihime rushed, grabbing Tatsuki's wrist and dragging her back to the group.

"Orihime! What's wrong with you?!" Tatsuki asked.

"Nothing, we just need to help the guys, don't you think!?" the orange haired girl said, making sure her eyes didn't stray to the area Cifer was coming from when she looked back at Tatsuki.

Tatsuki let herself be dragged back to the group and watched as Orihime threw herself back into the less animated discussion.

-4-

Ulquiorra headed towards the basketball hoops to the group standing around them. He didn't want to be there but he knew Grimmjow would never shut up about it if he didn't show so he had come to get what little peace he could during school.

He hadn't expected to see the Humans there as well, even less had he expected the woman to be there. He watched as she pulled her best friend back to their group, doing her best to ignore him. She had always acted weird around him, though he wasn't sure why.

"What took you so long, Ulquiorra! We've been here for hours waiting!" Grimmjow yelled from where he stood.

Ulquiorra did not respond. He knew he was not late; in fact he was only the fifth to arrive. Grimmjow was only trying to rile him up, bate he was not going to take.

So he listened quietly as the Espada group discussed their Halloween night. The tricks they would play and when to meet up. He would go, only to stop Grimmjow from bugging him during school.

"What are they doing here?" Szayel growled. The group turned to see some Shinigami not ten yards away huddled around the picnic tables.

_Trash_, Ulquiorra thought, glancing also at the Humans on the other side of the hill. The Shinigami always tried to ruin their pranks on Halloween. The goody-two-shoes they were.

Grimmjow growled at the group. "Let's get rid of them." He hissed, drawing the Espada around him. As the group staked towards the Shinigami, Ulquiorra trailing behind, not caring to get in a fight on a weekend, the third group, the Humans, came over the hill and headed down towards them. They were all chatting and didn't seem to notice where they were headed. Ulquiorra could see the woman trailing behind, glancing warily from her own group to his. Her friend, Tatsuki, kept giving her strange looks, glancing from the woman to himself.

By now the Shinigami were advancing on the Espada, each of them glaring at the Espada. Ulquiorra watched as all three groups arrived at the same spot, stopping just feet away and glaring (or in the Humans case, looking surprised then glaring) at the other two groups.

-4-

Rukia watched as the groups converged. She could hear the Humans talking about their Halloween plans as they drew closer, their voices falling off as they caught sight of the Shinigami and Espada.

No one spoke for some time. Each glaring death at the others.

Rukia stood beside Jushiro and Momo towards the back of the group, none of them too fond of fighting to begin with. From where she stood she could see Ichigo at the head of the Human group, he was glaring from Grimmjow to Renji and her brother Byakuya who were at the head of her group.

Finally Grimmjow spoke up.

"Well looky here, the peace makers and the wimps. Have you come to pick flowers and help little old ladies cross the street?"

"We all know what you're here for, Grimmjow, planning out another Halloween prank fest." Renji growled from where he stood.

"Well, we just can't help it; it's what Halloween is all about! Torturing the pathetic people of this town." The blue haired boy replied.

"Yeah, stealing candy and destroying personal property, that sounds about right for creatures like you." Renji drowned.

"At least I don't ask for candy like polite little brats. Here planning a nice little Halloween night aren't cha?" the blue haired idiot scoffed, directing his insult at Ichigo.

"At least I don't have to steel candy to get any; I can't think of one house in this town that would _willingly_ give you candy." Ichigo retorted.

"Well if they did, what fun would that be?" Grimmjow laughed.

"Because when they do, you get more candy that you can eat all year," Uryu said calculating.

Grimmjow looked thoughtful, "That might be good and all, but where is the fun in eating it if you don't have the satisfaction of knowing you _took_ it from them."

"Ha! I'd like to see how much you get by stealing. I bet it doesn't last you one week!" Renji ripped.

"And you're such a good little boy that you let yours last you a whole six months, what does mommy not let you eat all the candy you want. I bet she only lets you have one piece a week!" Szayel laughed.

"You forget, Renji only does what little Byakuya tells him," Grimmjow howled.

"Why I-" Renji stepped forward, raising his fists. Only he was stopped short by a hand grabbing the back of his shirt.

"Dame it Kuchiki, let go of me!" Renji growled at Byakuya who was holding him back. Grimmjow and his group broke out in howling laughter at the sight.

Byakuya, however, didn't let go of the struggling red head. "Calm down, Renji," the boy said.

"Ha! What did I tell you! Renji can't do anything without Byakuya's permission!" Ichigo howled, spilling out into hooting laughter, his friends joining in.

Rukia watched as her brother pulled Renji back and murmured something to him. The red head quite his struggling and Byakuya let him go but the boy stayed where he was. She could tell from where she stood it was taking all his self-control to not rip the two of them apart.

"You just wait," Renji growled at them, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Wait for what," Ichigo sputtered out between laughs, "for the great Byakuya to give you permission?" The boy doubled over in renewed laughter.

"You all go out to get the most candy right?" Renji started. Ichigo slowed his laughing, and began listening to the boy in front of him.

"Let's make it interesting," Renji spoke. "You were all talking about it yesterday, so let's make it an actual competition. A friendly little competition between us. The group that gets the most candy on baggers night, wins." Renji explained. "Unless you're not up to the challenge?"

"What did you say?!" Ichigo and Grimmjow growled in unison.

"I can understand if you don't think you could beat us, I could understand why you wouldn't want to be humiliated so badly."

"You got yourself a deal!" Ichigo shouted. "Halloween night, the group with the most candy combined wins."

"By any means necessary," Grimmjow put in, "I'm not going to go around _asking_ for candy, and then all you idiots will see how much more you get when you _steal_."

"Fine, by any means necessary. But costumes will be required for this, you have to at least _act_ like your trick-or-treating." Renji growled.

"No problem," Ichigo agreed.

"Fine, costumes," Grimmjow hissed, not wanting to back down.

"We'll meet at the school at eleven. There we can weigh in all the candy at once." Ichigo instructed.

"Hang on there, we all have to agree for this, you aren't the spokesperson for our group, Renji," the short white haired kid, Toshiro, spoke up. Renji nodded, accepting the condition. "All in favor of A Halloween Candy Contest say 'hai'," Toshiro shouted.

All eight Shinigami shouted 'hai' in unison, though, some louder than others.

"We're all in agreement right?" Ichigo asked to his friends. All eight of them nodded or said 'hai' as well.

"What about you all," Grimmjow growled, clearly not caring if his group said hai or not. But the Espada agreed as well.

"Good, Halloween night. Until then," Ichigo said, turning and walking around the two groups, his friends following behind him.

"Until then," Renji said.

"Yeah, prepare to be crushed," Grimmjow growled. The Espada turned away from the Shinigami and headed back towards their basketball hoops leaving the Shinigami alone.

"Renji what were you thinking!" Rukia hissed once their group was back at their tables. "My brother really _is_ going to kill you now!"

"What are you talking about?" Renji asked. "It was all his idea to begin with."

"What!" Rukia shrieked, her eyes widening, turning toward her brother who sat at the tables, his eyes closed and arms folded over his chest.

"A Halloween Candy Contest." Renji repeated. "Now this is going to be fun."


	2. Chapter 2

Posted 11-03-10, Edited 12-21-12  
There will only be one more after this, Baggers Night.  
I hope you find this one cute, I like to think it is.

**A (Halloween) Candy Contest **

**Chapter Two**

_Tuesday, October 26__th__ 2010_

"You do realize you have to dress up, don't you?"

Ulquiorra looked up to see Grimmjow standing over his desk during the school day break. The blue haired idiot had his arms folded across his chest.

"Excuse me?" Ulquiorra asked, not understanding Grimmjow's comment.

"Dress up? A Costume?..." -no response- "On Halloween. You have to wear one too." Grimmjow said, miffed.

"And _why_? I am not the one who agreed to this."

"So you're not taking part?"

"Nope."

"Yes, you are."

Ulquiorra looked up at him again, daring the boy to repeat his statement.

"I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. We are already one short compared to their two groups," Grimmjow continued. "Losing another man would bring us two short."

"That is not my problem."

"You're coming with us and you're going to help us win. You wouldn't want to be shown up by the '_Trash_', would you?"

Ulquiorra's eye twitched. What Grim said was true, even if it was _Grim_ who said it.

"What are you going to be Ulqui?"

The dark haired boy's eyes shifted to the right to see the familiar green haired Nel staring anxiously at him. When Ulquiorra did not respond Nel continued.

"I'm going to be Tinker Bell! I have her wings and Everything!" Nel said, spinning in a circle.

"Watch it, Nel," Harribel said, stepping out of range of Nel's swinging arms.

"Oh, Harbel!" Nel greeted, Ulquiorra watched as Harribel's eyes narrowed in response to the girls nickname for her. "What are you going to be? I'm going to be Tinker Bell! I have her wings and Everything!" Nel shouted again.

Harribel simply nodded, saying, "I have not decided yet."

"Ah, but that's no fun, you got to pick quickly, you're running out of time." Nel exclaimed. "Lilynette! What are you going to be!"

Nel ran to the doorway where Lilynette and Starrk had just walked in.

"Me? I'm going to be a Fairy Princess!" Lilynette said, seeming quite proud of her choice.

Ulquiorra dropped his head back to the book that he had been reading prior to Grimmjows interruption.

"Cool! And what about you Starrk?" Ulquiorra heard Nel asking.

"I don't know," came Starrks reply lazily.

"Well you better all come up with something! I don't care if you come as a ghost with a sheet over your head!" Grimmjow hollered. "We are not losing because you all didn't get costumes!"

"GRIMMJOW." A low rumbling roar came from the front of the classroom.

Looking up Ulquiorra saw the feared red eyes of their teacher staring at Grimmjow from beneath thick gray eyebrows. Yamamoto-sama sat at his desk at the front of the class but the Espada knew all too well how quickly he could appear before them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep it quiet." Grimmjow mumbled, annoyed but clearly following their teachers order.

Ulquiorra heard Nel and Lilynette stifling giggles behind their hands.

"And what are you going to be, Grimmjow?" Nel asked.

Grimmjow's face reddened just a bit.

"A blue cat," Ulquiorra replied drily.

"What!" the two girls gasped, giggling.

"Am not! I'm going to be a panther and you know it!" Grimmjow protested.

"That's what I said. A _blue_ _cat_," Ulquiorra repeated, emphasizing the 't' on cat.

-4-

"I love the fall, it's so pretty with the trees changing color and falling to the ground." Orihime's voice floated over the rooftop from where she, Tatsuki and Ururu sat looking out over the schoolyard below.

Ichigo drew his attention back to his friends. They had just finished discussion their route for baggers night, adding a few more housed on their way to the school.

"What about doubling back in different costumes to hit some of the good houses again?" Keigo was suggesting, his eyes bugging out.

"That's like cheating, and then we'd be no better than the Espada," Uryu scorned.

"But the houses would give us the candy willingly, we wouldn't be stealing it," Keigo countered.

"That's lying, which is a step away from stealing. I won't do that," Uryu bit.

"Neither will I," Chad murmured.

"You two are just big babies," Keigo sulked, glaring between the two. Mizuro laughed quietly at the boy's clear disappointment.

"But then how are we going to insure we win? Do you really want to play it goody-two-shoes like the Shinigami? Surely even they will not play fair. It was their idea after all."

"Yeah, I know."

"Then what?"

"I'm still thinking." Ichigo mumbled, glaring at the rice ball he held in his hand as if it held the answer he was looking for.

"Well, while Ichigo is thinking, we got to make sure our costumes are real good. The better the costumes the better the candy load." Uryu was saying, "Now I've seen Chad's and its good, what about yours Keigo? Got all the pieces together?"

"Yeah! Okay, for my pirate costume I got this really ratty wig with dreadlock and beads, and this awesome hat, really cool! And I got nasty grimy face paint that's disgusting, and some yellowing fake teeth with a few missing!" Keigo explained, attempting to explain through hand gestures, it wasn't working.

"And the clothing?" Uryu prompted.

"Ah… right, well I found an old ripped up trench coat in our attic and some nice torn-and-holey brown pants. So I can wear some old black clothes and it should be good," Keigo continued explaining.

"Good, bring them tomorrow and I'll touch them up for you," Uryu ordered.

"Ah, do you have to?" Keigo complained.

"Just bring them. You'll thank me," Uryu replied. "What about you Mizuro?"

"I got my costume online, Darth Vader, talking mask and all," Mizuro said happily.

"Okay, that should be good enough, but bring it anyway and I'll take a quick look at it too."

"Sure."

"Good. I've got mine all figured out, and what about you Ichigo?" Uryu asked, turning to the orange haired boy.

The four of them all watched waiting for Ichigo to reply but the boy stared unblinking at his rice ball.

"O…kay… then, we'll ask you later…" Uryu said after a few minutes of silence.

"Come on guys!"

The boys turned to see the three girls standing near the door of the stairs.

"The bell is going to sound any second," Tatsuki was shouting from the top step. Upon her words the first warning bell rang out and the girls disappeared down the stairwell.

"Well, guess we'll figure it out at a later time," Uryu said, climbing to his feet.

"Do you always have to talk so… I don't know…." Keigo started, his face twisted in annoyance.

"Well brought up?" Uryu supplied, "Unlike _some_ of us?" His eyebrow twitched while watching his classmate.

"No, no, like 'grown up' but snotty about it or ah…. I don't know but you always talk like it," Keigo said, heading down the stairs.

"Well that makes a lot of sense," Uryu mumbled as they all headed down. Pausing Uryu turned to see Ichigo still sitting staring at his rice ball. "Hey, Ichigo!" he shouted.

The orange haired boy jumped, confusion written all over his face, "Where'd everybody…"

"Ichigo! The bell rang!" Uryu called again, catching the boys' attention before continuing down the steps.

"Well why didn't you tell me sooner!"

-4-

"Why did nii-kun tell you to get us into this contest!" Rukia growled for the hundredth time to Renji who sat with his back to a tree during the class break.

"I told you already, _I don't know_," Renji said for the thousandth time.

"I don't believe you! Now tell me the truth," Rukia growled, kicking Renji in the shin.

"Ahhh! What did you do that for?" Renji shouted, grabbing the injured limb.

"Tell me!"

"I don't know why! Now why don't you just go ask your brother if you want the answer, cuz kicking me won't get you anywhere," Renji said rubbing his shin.

"Ah, Idiot!" the black haired girl growled as she stomped away, continuing to mumble under her breath.

"Idiot, doesn't know anything…"

"Why I put up with him, I don't…"

"I mean, honestly, doesn't he know anyth…"

"You okay there Rukia-san?"

Rukia turned to see Retsu standing with Shaolin Fon, who preferred people calling her Soifon, and Toshiru just inside the school building.

"Huh? Wha?"

"Are you okay?" Retsu repeated looking concerned.

"Oh! Oh I'm fine, sorry, just thinking out loud," Rukia replied, placing a smile on her face. "What are you guys up to?"

"Just waiting for class to start again," Toshiru said with boredom.

"Oh, yeah, shouldn't it be soon?"

"Yes," Retsu murmured glancing at the clock on the wall. "So," she turned back to Rukia, "What are you planning to be for Halloween night?"

"Oh, I'm going to be a witch, pointy had and all," Rukia said happily. "And you three?"

"A nurse," Retsu replied softly.

"Dragon," Toshiru droned. Rukia blinked. "It was Momo's idea, I'm just going along with it, less for me to do."

Rukia nodded, "And you Soifon-san?"

The ninja-like girls' eyes narrowed and Rukia began to wish she hadn't asked.

Finally Soifon broke eye contact by closing her eyes. "The details are still being worked out."

Rukia blinked, waiting for more information than never came.

"Okay, um, is anyone else decided?" Rukia asked awkwardly.

"Jushiru-san is going to be a character from an anime called 'Snipe' but that's all I know." Retsu replied.

"Oh, yeah I think I've seen that once, wonder who he is going to be…" Rukia said.

"Momo has to go as a Maji era Lady of the House," Toshiru explained, "Her parents decision," he said, an unhappy tone to his voice.

"That's too bad," Rukia murmured, knowing how the girl felt. Her own parents were quite proud of the Kuchiki family's honored name; obsessed Rukia liked to think. Being told what to dress up as because of your name was pushing it too for in Rukia's opinion.

Just then the bell rang.

"And back to class," Toshiru murmured pushing away from the wall he leaned against.

The four of them made their way back through the halls of the school, going along with the flow of the other students. Not too far from their class room Rukia found herself separated from her friends.

"Where'd they go?" Rukia glanced around; realizing the flow of students had taken her down the wrong hallway. "Well that's just great," she growled turning around and heading against the flow. She pushed her way through the crowd; most students complaining as she bumped past them.

"Ah!"

Out of nowhere a tallish figure had stepped in her path and Rukia found herself running straight into his back.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Rukia yelled rubbing her soar nose.

The boy turned around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Oh, it's you," Ichigo Kurosaki groaned. "You say something?"

"I said, watch where you're going! You stepped right in front of me!"

"Why don't you watch where you're going, you're the one who ran into me," Ichigo replied.

"Why I outta!" Rukia growled aiming a punch for his face.

Ichigo caught the fist easily, a grin spreading over his face.

"Better watch out, you could get hurt doing something like that." Ichigo still had hold of Rukia's fist.

"Let go of me!"

"You're the one who tried to punch me, Midget, I'm just insuring my safety."

"Ahh!" Rukia aimed her other fist for his face.

"Not so fast," Ichigo said, catching the second fist in his other hand. Rukia growled as she struggled to get out of the boy's grip.

By now most of the hallway was void of other students, having returned to class.

"Come on now, the bell is going to ring and we will be late for class. Yamamoto-sama won't like that." Ichigo reasoned, not letting go of the girl.

"It will be your fault." Rukia hissed. She stepped back and a split second later her leg connected with Ichigo's side. Caught off-guard the boy crumpled to the side but managed to stay on his feet.

"That was underhanded," he groaned, losing his grip on one of Rukia's fists. The freed fist pulled back and shot forward in a second attempt. Thinking she'd pulled it off without Ichigo catching her hand again, Rukia put all her weight, which wasn't much, behind the punch. However, Ichigo ducked to the left and the girl's fist shot over his shoulder.

Rukia was unable to stop her forward motion now and found herself falling forward when her fist never collided with anything.

With a coupled shout and groan the two classmates found themselves on the floor, Ichigo underneath Rukia.

"Ouch, now what did you do that for," Ichigo moaned.

"Me! It was you, Idiot, if you hadn't moved I wouldn't have fallen!"

"So you would have let yourself be punched!"

"No, but you should have!" Rukia replied, aiming a slap at Ichigo's face.

Having taken her weight off her hand, being it was the only hand that supported her, instead of hitting the boy she found herself falling more fully onto him, successfully knocking the breath out of him. And that was not the worst of the incident. Rukia and Ichigo found themselves, eye to eye with each other, their lips pressed firmly together.

The two stared at the other, eyes growing wider with each passing second until Rukia regained the ability to move and swiftly pushed herself off the Ichigo.

Ichigo sat up, his eyes still bugging, staring at the girl before him.

"I am going to kill you for that!" Rukia growled, but her voice did not hold the anger and contempt she had hoped it would.

Before either could say anything more the class bell rang, signaling the start of the next class period.

"Crap!" Rukia said, scrambling to her feet. Ichigo was not far behind her as the two ran down the hallway toward their classroom.

"This is all your fault!" Rukia yelled at him.

"Yeah right," was the boy's reply.

"We don't speak one word of what just happened to _anyone_! You got that!" Rukia hissed at him, their classroom door now in sight.

"Agreed," Ichigo replied, his voice quiet, Rukia noticed this.

"Not one word," she said, stopping to face the boy. Ichigo stared back at her, his face unreadable. "Nothing has happened." She said.

"Fine," Ichigo said, his voice still quiet. The two stared at each other for a few moments, Rukia willing Ichigo to agree that nothing had happened. When the boy said no more she growled again and turned to their classroom door, pushing it open and walking in.

"Kuchiki, Kurosaki, you're late," Yamamoto-sama rumbled from the front of the class.

"I'm sorry, Yamamoto-sama, it won't happen again," Rukia said quietly.

"Make sure of that, and both of you will stay after school and clean the classroom," their sensei stated.

"Yes sir," they murmured. The two walked back to their seats avoiding all eye contact. Rukia's expression grave as she sat down, Ichigo's unreadable as he returned to his seat, rubbing his side.

-4-

Orihime could hear Uryu questioning Ichigo about his costume after school. Now that the boy had to stay late they would not be able to discuss baggers night further.

"Hey, sorry Orihime but I got karate class now, you'll be ok with walking home alone or do you want to come to class with me?" Tatsuki asked, walking with Orihime out of the classroom.

"I'd love to come but I got so much homework, I need to get home and get started on it," Orihime replied.

"What? But we don't have anything due for two days!" Tatsuki cried.

"But we'll just get more tomorrow and I don't want to get behind," the red head explained.

"Right, you and your 4.0," Tatsuki said laughing.

"Well you have a good class Tatsuki, I'll see you later!" Orihime called as Tatsuki took off down the halls.

So Orihime headed out into the school yard by herself. Most of the trees had turned orange and red by now and the ground was covered in a fresh layer of fallen leaves. Yep, fall was defiantly a very beautiful season Orihime summed, kicking up the leaves as she walked. It kicked off the start of a new school year, it was the slow lead up to Christmas, one of her fav holidays, and it had the perfect temperature for outside activities.

"Hmm, I could stop by the park on the way home, the swings might be empty," Orihime commented to the blue sky above.

Orihime watched the fluffy white clouds floating by above her head. She walked down the familiar road home, not needing to watch all too carefully where she was going; she'd walked this way home for two years now.

The weather was brisk, but not enough to warrant putting her coat on so it hung over her book bag.

"And it's the only season with two names: Fall _and_ Autumn. Winter only gets Winter; Spring gets Spring; and Summer gets Summer," Orihime exclaimed to the sky. "That makes it special!"

This sent Orihime deep in thought, surly the other seasons had other names as well. Why was Fall the only season with two names? Maybe other countries have more than one name for the other seasons? "Wonder what they are?"

Suddenly Orihime heard the scream of a car horn. Turning to the right Orihime watched as a large truck came hurdling towards her. Her eyes grew round. When had she walked into the street?

Before she could move Orihime felt a hand on the back of her shirt yanking her back. Her feet lost their stability and she stumbled. She was pulled back onto the curb right as the truck raced passed, horn still blaring and its driver shouting out the window.

The hold on her shirt steadied her before disappearing. Orihime blinked at the empty street in front of her, her brain not quite finished processing what just happened.

Moments later she swiftly turned around and was met with familiar shocking green eyes and a blank expression.

"U-Ulquiorra!" she cried, stepping back from him. His hand shot out and this time grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her back yet again. She felt the wind of a car pass behind her and the blare of another angry horn.

Ulquiorra's eye twitched. "Woman, quit stepping into the street."

Orihime blinked at the boy in front of her, her face slowly turning red.

"Woman," Ulquiorra warned.

"I'm not a woman you know," she finally blurted out.

This statement seemed to confuse Ulquiorra, Orihime continued.

"You only ever call me 'Woman', but I'm not a woman yet, we're only ten." Orihime tried to explain, her face growing warmer by the second.

"Fine then," Ulquiorra stated, Orihime could detect no emotion in his voice. "Little Girl."

Now this made Orihime frown, that wasn't much better than 'Woman'.

"Stay out of the street." And with that, Ulquiorra headed down the road in the direction of home.

"Hey," she called, not knowing _why_ she called to him. "Hey wait up!" Why was she calling out to him? Hadn't he scared her since the moment their eyes first meet over a year ago?

Orihime ran to catch up with the black haired boy and fell into step beside him. He didn't even glance at her. Orihime frowned.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Did you want to be hit by the truck?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Well no, but why did _you_ save me?"

Moments passed before the boy replied, "I was there."

Orihime waited for him to continue speaking, but he never did.

"Well that's a great explanation," she muttered under her breath. She glared in the direction the two were heading rather than at the boy who made her glare. She didn't realize he saw this glare and was resisting a smile from coming to his lips.

They walked silently onward, drawing nearer and nearer to their homes yet when they came across the gate to Ulquiorra's home he did not turn in. Instead the boy continued on with her.

"Aren't you going home?" Orihime finally asked at the end of the block.

To this Ulquiorra gave no answer but asked a question of his own. "Why is your friend not with you?"

"Tatsuki? She has karate class." Orihime answered surprised.

Ulquiorra nodded and continued to walk by her side.

Orihime was dumbfounded. Surly this boy whom she had been afraid of deserved to be feared but walking beside him she could not find any reason to fear him now. She was sure she had reasons to fear him before but none were coming to mind. He just kept walking with her, never looking at her. He only spoke when Orihime asked a question; never starting a conversation on his own. Where had the scary Cifer gone to?

"Where are you going?"

Orihime was pulled out of her thoughts by the boy who consumed them.

"What?" She asked, dumbfounded yet again.

"Your home is that way," the boy said, pointing farther down the street Orihime had just turned off of.

Orihime tried to ignore the fact the Ulquiorra knew where she lived, that thought _was_ creepy.

"I was going to play in the park before going home," Orihime said, after realizing she had turned into the park.

Ulquiorra seemed to be displeased by this; however, he glanced once more in the direction of her home before turned into the park with her.

Orihime couldn't hold in her question any longer.

"Why are you doing this?" she shouted. Having never meant to shout the question she slapped her hand over her mouth, adamantly apologized for shouting.

"Little Girl," Ulquiorra warned again.

"Sorry!" she said, shutting up.

Ulquiorra's eye twitched just a bit before he turned toward the playground area.

"If you could prove you won't get yourself killed I would leave. However, you have not been able to do this so far," he explained in his bored voice.

Orihime trailed behind him, her eyes on the back of his head. His statement had not been what she had expected. She had never seen him as the protecting type. That was more how she viewed Ichigo or perhaps Byakuya to Rukia. But _never _Ulquiorra.

He walked in front of her, one hand in his pocket the other holding the strap of his book bag. She could watch as his hair swayed slightly with each step. He was very elegant in a way, for a ten-year-old. And Orihime could not remember him ever acting out in class, or out of class. He always stayed silent.

Ulquiorra stopped and Orihime did as well, they had passed through the meadow that lay between the entrance to the park and the playground. Standing at its boundary Ulquiorra spoke again.

"What were you going to play on?" he asked.

"Um…well…I was going to swing…?" Orihime replied, phrasing her statement more like a question.

The boy nodded and headed in that direction. He placed his book bag beside the swing post and leaned against it, staring off into the distance.

Orihime set her stuff down to and climbed into one of the swings. _This isn't quite what I meant._ She thought to herself, pushing off the ground. _It would be easier if he would swing too…_

She swung slowly for a little bit before slowing to a stop. "It would be more fun if you would swing too. I feel like I'm keeping you waiting." She replied to his questioning look, or what she thought was questioning.

The boy sighed (this caused Orihime's eyes to widen) and stepped forward, sitting down on the swing beside her. His pace was slow and he barely pushed off the ground but it made Orihime feel better about swinging.

She pushed off hard, pumping her legs and gaining height with every pass. The cold air sliced across her face but she kept going, higher and higher. At one point she though she heard Ulquiorra scold her again but she was moving too fast to make out all his words. As she reached the highest she dared go she released herself from the swing and felt herself flying forward. She was sure now that she heard Ulquiorra's shout as she landed some ten feet in front of the swing-set.

She regained her balance in moments and turned with a huge smile on her face to see that Ulquiorra was out of his swing and half way to her. He stopped when she turned but his scowl was somewhat noticeable.

"I just love doing that!" Orihime explained. Ulquiorra's expression darkened or she thought she saw it darken; he turned back to the swing and sat down this time not even attempting to swing. His eyes remained closed, even after she had returned and begun to swing again.

"You will not do that again," she heard him say. She had been trying to ignore her thoughts that she had upset him but this statement made that impossible.

She slowed to a speed where she could talk freely.

"I didn't mean to scare you," she murmured, knowing he could hear her. He said nothing; all he did was rock back and forth, though Orihime could see that he had at least opened his eyes.

They stayed swinging for nearly half an hour before Orihime slowed to a stop and stood up.

"Well, I guess I should get going, I want to start on the homework," she explained.

Ulquiorra nodded and rose with her. They recovered their book bags and headed back out of the park through the meadow. Orihime felt a little awkward walking with the boy alone in the secluded park but she wasn't sure why. _Perhaps it's just the meadow…_

When they left the park her feelings vanished and she was able to walk comfortably beside him, a feat she thought she'd never do.

They arrived at her home moments later and she turned into the lot.

"I guess I should thank you for saving me today, twice," she said staring at her feet. When he said nothing, she chanced looking up at him.

His gaze was on her house but turning to her the same time she looked to him. He nodded, again, not breaking the eye contact.

"Be more careful next time," he replied, turning in the direction of his home. "I will see you tomorrow."

This caused Orihime to blink in surprise. It wasn't until he was some feet down the sidewalk that she regained her voice, "See you tomorrow, Ulquiorra!" A smile lit up her face. The boy wasn't so scary at all. Actually he _wasn't_ scary at all. _Why was I so afraid?_ She asked herself, but she couldn't come up with a why. She watched his figure disappear down a street and out of sight.

Turning, still smiling, she raced to her front door.

-4-

Tatsuki wiped the sweat from her face. Her class had just ended and it was time to pack up. She could hear the other students moving around, talking with their friends and greeting their parents.

She was in the highest level for her age group and there weren't many others in the group. Most were from other schools but one or two were from her own school. Still, none of them were really that close of friends to her. Ichigo had been in the class until his mom had died. He still spared with her from time to time but he didn't come to class.

She huffed a sigh as she stretched down, feeling her muscles relaxing. Today had been a good hard practice. The next level entry test was coming up soon and their sensei was pushing them all hard.

"Man, I just hope I pass, I don't want to get left behind."

Tatsuki turned to see Sakura, a student from Northern Karakura Elementary. "Yeah, I know what you mean," Tatsuki said.

"But you don't have anything to worry about! You're the best in the class, Tatsuki!" Sakura replied shocked.

"No I'm not; there are plenty of kids better than me."

"In _our_ age group? And if by plenty you mean Abarai, I _might_ give it to you, but I still think you're better." Sakura countered, giving Tatsuki a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Yeah right, there are always areas we need to improve in. I'll beat Abarai one day soon." Tatsuki vowed, not liking to be shown up by that Shinigami.

Today she and Abarai had fought three times, once was a draw but the other two he had won.

"I'll beat him one day," Tatsuki vowed again remembering her recent defeats.

"Something tells me that's not going to happen too soon," came a laughing voice.

Tatsuki turned to see the boy in question standing nearby, his gym bag in hand.

"What makes you think that, Abarai! You're not invincible ya know!" Tatsuki snapped. Getting up from the ground she walked up to the red-headed boy.

"Oh, now I'm scared, you can glare like no one else I know," Abarai said sarcastically.

Tatsuki's hand clenched in a fist and before she could stop she went at him with all she had.

Sakura quickly moved out of the way stopping beside a white-blond girl from Tatsuki's own school.

"Those two fight like I've never seen two fight before," Sakura said to Ino.

"You haven't met Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki, compared to them, this is tame," Ino replied. The two shouting kids still raged on.

-4-

Tatsuki had got one good punch in before their sensei had stopped the fight and then he had lectured the two of them for nearly an hour. It hadn't been the first fight the two had had outside the ring but each and every time Tatsuki threw a punch she had regretted it not an hour later. She was not that great at keeping her temper around the boy and she hated that. Keeping a cool head was _key_ to fighting, yet no matter what she tried to do or how hard she tried to ignore him she always ended up losing the battle.

She was headed back through the deserted school, having gone straight to the dojo she hadn't grabbed the text book needed for her homework. It being on the way she had stopped by and turned in.

The school was still open, the drama club met at night so they kept it unlocked until they were done. A little known fact Tatsuki had taken advantage of quite often. After all, who wanted to haul a fifty pound bag the mile to the dojo and back?

As she approached her classroom she could hear voices coming from it. Confused she slowed down. The voices drifted to her through the air.

"What did I tell you about that? You're doing it all wrong!" Rukia's voice came.

"How am I doing it wrong? _There is no right way to clean a whiteboard!_" Ichigo's voice followed next.

Tatsuki stifled a laugh. _That's right, they have to clean the classroom,_ she remembered. She could just bet that the two of them had been fighting over everything that got cleaned. Ino was right, she and Abarai were bad but these two were worse.

"Give me that! You're doing it all wrong!" Rukia yelled.

"Fine." Ichigo replied. Silence fell for a while, Tatsuki staying where she was, "Give me that, you can't even reach the top, Midget!" Ichigo said moments later.

"Don't call me Midget!" Rukia yelled. It seemed that's all she ever did.

Tatsuki heard Ichigo grunt, Rukia must have hit he poor boy. "What did you do that for?"

"I said, Don't Call Me Midget!"

"So you punch me! Didn't you learn your lesson during the break! Or do _you_ want a repeat!"

"I told you to never talk about that to anyone!"

"I didn't think you had included yourself in that count!"

"You didn't think!"

"Ouch! Quit hitting me _Midget_!"

"Idiot!"

Tatsuki waited outside the door waiting for the two to quit fighting. Though she didn't understand the flow of the conversation, she was pretty sure she shouldn't be overhearing it. Whatever had happened Rukia was very unhappy about.

The yelling continued on.

Finally, after an eternity of waiting Tatsuki, saw their teacher heading toward the classroom. She ducked into a doorway and waited.

"All right you two, you may leave for now, you will stay and clean again tomorrow until you can learn to get along." Yamamoto-sama said.

Tatsuki could hear Rukia groan.

Moments later the two came hurrying down the hall, their argument starting up again. Tatsuki waited until they were far enough away before stepping out of the darkened doorway.

"Hu, that was weird," Tatsuki mumbled, heading for her classroom door, "Those two are acting stranger than usual."

* * *

There you go, hope you liked it a review or two would be nice

Thank you _yoyogigi125_ for your review!


	3. Chapter 3

Posted 11-01-11, Edited 12-21-12  
I know it's been a year, once Halloween was too far behind us I figured I'd wait. So here is the last chapter.  
**Baggers Night**  
I hope you enjoy it.

**A (Halloween) Candy Contest**

**Chapter Three**

_Sunday, October 31__st__ 2010_

"Come on in Tatsuki," the door was opened by Sora, Orihime's older brother.

"Oh, Tatsuki, hold on, stay there!" Orihime cried as Sora closed the door behind her. "Keep your eyes closed! We're almost ready!"

"Ok, ok," Tatsuki replied, closing her eyes. She could hear shuffling around and the rustling of fabric.

"Okay… you can look… now!"

Tatsuki opened her eyes to see Orihime in her 'Lily' costume. She wore a blue leotard with dark blue designs and an orange choker necklace around the collar. Along with giant yellow goggle glasses her hair was up in three buns, with a tuft hanging over her left eye. She had dark blue leggings underneath the leotard that ran down to her feet, with tabi socks and flip-flops of dark blue. But by far the most interesting items were the large pink and white wings that attached to her forearms. They somehow stood on their own, arching up as tall as Orihime before bending back down to the ground near her ankles.

"Orihime, that's amazing! How did you get the er- wings like that?" Tatsuki asked, moving to take a look at them.

"Sora did it; he got some wire and made them just like the shows! They aren't even that heavy!" Orihime explained. "See, they just strap on to my arm," she showed Tatsuki the buckle straps that the fabric hid around her wrist and forearms.

"Awesome," Tatsuki agreed, "And where's Ururu?" Tatsuki looked around the room, not seeing the girl.

"She's finishing up in the bathroom, she's a little shy…" Sora explained.

"Come on, let's go check on her," Orihime cried, hurrying down the hall of their apartment. The door to the bathroom was shut tight so Orihime knocked instead. "You getting it on ok, Ururu? Tatsuki's here."

"Hai," came the small reply, with a small click the door opened and Ururu stepped out and stood beside Orihime, looking quite shy in her 'Ayame' costume. Tatsuki thought it suited her quite well. Ururu's hair was down in two white ties, hanging over her shoulders. Her costume was a simple pink kimono with wide white trim that hid her hands completely. With white tabi socks and flip-flops just like Orihime's. And like Orihime, she too had rather interesting 'wings'. On top of her head sat the start of the winds that came out to incase her body in a small cocoon of red fabric. Behind her, Tatsuki could see similar wings coming from the back, also running as far down as her ankles. With yellow trim and designs, her costume was very impressive, yet distinctly shy.

"Wow, Ururu, I think I like you're even better! It's amazing!" Tatsuki cried, a smile on her face. This only caused Ururu to blush and stutter a small 'thanks'.

"Tatsuki I love your costume! It's so cool!" Orihime cried happily, finally taking in Tatsuki's full fighter costume. She's decorated her normal karate uniform with wide strips of red fabric at the edges. A belt of gold and black her mom had made her. And her arms and feet wrapped up in white tape. With some tabi socks and flip-flops her costume was complete.

"Yeah, but now I feel underdressed," Tatsuki joked, causing Orihime to laugh.

"But it suits you perfect! Yours are just as good as ours or anyone else's costume!" she said. "Ok, you ready to go?" Orihime asked, bouncing in place.

"You bet 'cha!"

4-4

"Let us is Ulquiorra! You're not getting out of this!" Grimmjow's voice came through Ulquiorra's bedroom door. In the end Grim had told Harribel to pick a costume for their green-eyed friend.

Now Ulquiorra stood in this room looking at the mirror.

He should have just picked his own costume, but each one he looked at had made him cringe inside. This one…well it wasn't as bad as it could have been, he just wished he didn't have to wear it.

"If you don't come out, we'll knock the door down!" Grimmjow hollered again, pounding on the door.

Ulquiorra sighed, sooner or later he'd have to go through with this; it might as well be now.

The bedroom door creaked open slowly, letting the light flood in from the hallway. Grimmjow and Harribel stood outside. Grimmjow looked mad; Harribel, bored. Grimmjow stood in a blue and white shirt with blue pants. It wouldn't have been so bad if the two weren't skin-tight. Over his ears he had fake pointed furry extenders and behind him Ulquiorra could see a blue striped tail sticking up, forced in an awkward position thanks to a wire inside. The only good point? The blue matched perfectly with his hair.

Harribel had on a traveling kimono of white and red with a wooden sword slung around her waist. She even had on straw shoes that tied around her ankles.

"Are you coming out now or do I have to pull you out?" Grimmjow hissed, his foot tapping in annoyance, but it only made the picture all the more funny.

Ulquiorra stayed behind his door. "Go on without me," he tried one more time.

"Not a chance," the blue boy said, grabbing hold of the pale hand that stuck out of the room. With a good solid yank, Ulquiorra was sent stumbling into the hallway, his vampire costume flowing in the air for the world to see.

"Here," Harribel said, holding out a plastic object.

"What is it?"

"Plastic teeth with fangs," Grimmjow announced cruelly, a grin on his face.

Stifling his grumble Ulquiorra took the teeth from Harribel.

"Good, now let's get going!" Grimmjow shouted, running down the hall toward the stairs.

"I am not wearing them," Ulquiorra informed Harribel as they followed the blue boy.

"That's not my problem," she replied.

4-4

"I'm going dad!" Soifon yelled, her hand reaching for the front door. When no reply came she shouted again. "Bye!" Again nothing. "Whatever," she mumbled, slamming the door behind her.

Out front stood half their group already. Renji stood at the head of the group, his black robs billowing in the wind with a tall scythe standing beside him. The hood to his Grim Reaper clock hung behind him. Upon seeing Soifon, he nodded his head like a general noting that his solder had joined the army. With a call to the group they all started forward.

Soifon fell in step beside Unohana, dressed in her simple Nurse outfit, her hair pulled back in a bun rather than its usual braid. Unohana nodded to Soifon and continued in silence. In front of them Momo and Toshiro walked side by side, Momo glanced around at the different Halloween decorations they were passing, Toshiro just looked straight ahead. Toshiro appeared like a white dragon. Wings jutted out from his shoulders and a large decorated head sat on top of his head almost like a hat. The rest of his costume was plain white clothes. Beside him Momo wore a bright pink Kimono with a deep purple sash. Gold thread was sewn into a beautiful flowered pattern that glittered in the street lamps. Her hair was up in a bum with a matching pink and gold comb to hold it in place and on her feet were dainty purple slippers.

"It's beautiful, isn't it," Unohana said from beside Soifon.

"What? Oh, yeah, it is," Soifon replied, nodding her head, "Just not something you'd ever find me in."

By now they reached the corner of the street and spotted another group heading toward them. This group consisted of Rukia and Byakuya, with Jushiro leading the way. Byakuya looked like he could be Momo's husband in his stately Emperor Robes and head-dress. When he approached he nodded politely to Momo and took a place beside Toshiro.

"Hey, good, everyone's here, now let's get hunting!" Renji hollered leading the group to the first house of many to come.

4-4

"Ok, everyone! Let's move!" Ichigo shouted, his feet halfway up the first driveway.

"Uryu, I didn't know you were going as Robin Hood," Orihime said, tagging alongside the boy.

"I'm not Robin Hood, he didn't wear white. I'm an Archer from the Quincy Clan," he replied stiffly, it being the seventh time he had to explain his outfit tonight.

"Oh, I've never heard of them, are they on TV?" Orihime asked.

"No, they are _real_; my family's passed down the knowledge of the Quincy for generations-"

"Hey! Uryu! Get up here and say your joke so we can move on! We're on a schedule here!" Ichigo shouted from the door, only herself, Chad, Tatsuki and Uryu were left to say their jokes.

"I'm coming Kurosaki, you're not the boss of me," Uryu grumbled.

"Yeah, well if you want to lose to the Espada and Shinigami then be my guest, but I want to win!"

The couple at the door laughed as Chad finished his joke; they placed three pieces in his brown furry bag.

"Nice, Chad," Ichigo said, slapping the Sasquatch on the back. "See Uryu, some people want to win."

Uryu jumbled as he passed the two boys.

"What is your joke, Chad?" Orihime asked, waiting for her turn at the door.

"Why did the runner quit the race against bigfoot?" Chad asked in a monotone voice.

Orihime's eyes squinted as she thought, her face turning to the sky. A few moments later she gave up. "I don't know, why did he?"

"He couldn't face defeet," Chad replied.

Orihime blinked once, then twice before laughing out loud. "That's great! I would never have thought of that! That's hilarious, Chad!"

"You're turn, Orihime," Tatsuki called, backing away from the door.

"Ok!" Orihime stepped up to the door.

4-4

"Here, I wrote up some jokes for when we do go up to the houses," Grimmjow said, handing Ulquiorra a piece of paper.

Ulquiorra took it. "What do you mean when? Is that not what trick-or-treating is?"

"Pss, yeah, it you do it the sappy way, now come on," Grimmjow took off, leaving the vampire behind to look at his 'cheat sheet.'

'Vampire Bat jokes,

_What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?  
Frostbite…_

_What is a vampire's favorite mode of transportation?  
A blood vessel…_

_How do you know a vampire likes baseball?_

_Because he turns into a bat each night…_

_Why do vampires need mouthwash?  
They have bat breath…_

_What's a vampire's favorite fast food?  
A guy with very high blood pressure…_

_Why did the Vampire subscribe to the Wall Street Journal?  
He heard it had great circulation…_

_A vampire bat came flapping in from the night, covered in fresh blood, and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep. _

_Pretty soon all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it. He told them to go away and let him get some sleep. However, the bats persisted until finally he gave in. _

_"OK, follow me," he said, and flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats behind him. Down through a valley they went, across a river and into a forest full of trees. Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly milled around him. _

_"Now, do you see that tree over there?" he asked. _

_"Yes, yes, yes!" the bats all screamed in a hungry frenzy. _

_"Good," said the first bat tiredly, "Because I didn't!"_

"These are terrible. And how is that last one a joke, it'd take two minutes to say it all?" Ulquiorra mumbled as he crumpled up the paper.

"What'd take two minutes?" Starrk asked, from his gigantic brown paper bag.

"What are you supposed to be?" Ulquiorra asked, unable to figure it out.

"I think I'm a couch potato…or bag of couch potato's… I'm not really sure," Starrk replied, looking down at this costume. "Lilynette made it…"

"Oh."

"So what would take two minutes?" Starrk asked again.

"These jokes Grimmjow gave me," Uluqiorra said, handing the paper to Starrk. "I'm pretty sure that last one can't be a joke.

Starrk read through the jokes, only nodding from time to time.

"Yeah, that one is kinda long, but it is funny. The bat was as blind as a bat," Starrk said. "Hey, there's a joke right there,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how about, 'Why did the bat fly into the tree?'" pause for dramatic effect, "'cuz he's as blind as a bat!'"

Somewhere in the dark a cricket squeaked.

"Or maybe not…" Starrk said, giving up.

"Well, it was a try, and it wasn't bad, only that bats have fine eye-site, so the 'blind as a bat' thing is wrong," Ulquiorra replied, taking the paper back from Starrk.

"You a bat lover or something?" Starrk asked.

"They are interesting creatures, you can learn a lot from them," was the vampires only reply.

"Then use the baseball one, it involves bats in a good way…"

"Yeah, maybe…" Ulquiorra finished.

Up ahead Grimmjow was trying to grab a hand full of candy from the ladies bowl. The slightly elderly lady was slapping his hand away. "Only one piece, there are other kids you know, you can't take it all! You didn't even tell me a joke!"

"I don't think this night is going to go very smooth," Starrk mumbled.

4-4

By now the group of eight Shinigami had reached their second street and were starting up the walk to the next door.

"Renji," Rukia was saying, "You have to use a few different jokes, not just the same one over and over. Eventually the people will hear it before and want a different one, then you won't get any candy."

"And what if the one joke I'm using is the one they haven't heard. They would be all the more annoyed if they had to hear more than one joke from each kid," Renji replied.

"You're hopeless," Rukia said, "We'll never win with you." She walked up to the man sitting at the door. "Hello, sir."

"Hello there. Happy Halloween," he replied.

"And Happy Halloween to you too! Ok, Why do witches ride broomsticks?"

"Um…I don't know, why?"

"Because vacuums don't have long enough cords!"

"Oh, that is a good one, nice. Here you go then." The man place three pieces into Rukia's witch's bag.

"Thank you!" she cried, stepping back to let Renji forward.

"Hey there. Ok, Knock, knock." Renji said.

The man's face fell. But he complied and responded. "Who's there?"

"Grimm?"

The man looked like he wanted to hit himself.

"Grimm who?"

"Grimm and bear it," Renji answered and held out his bag for candy.

"Have a good evening," the man said, shooing Renji away.

"Hey, what about my candy?"

"Grimm and bear it, kid. Next."

Renji walked away slowly, shock on his face.

"Told you."

"Shut up."

4-4

"AARrrrr," Mizuiro cried, jumping out from behind a bush to scare the girls, his hand was covered in a bloody hook and an eye patch hid an eye. Orihime and Ururu screamed at the pirate's appearance and ran to hide behind Orihime's brother. Mizuiro started laughing as the girls screamed; but right as he was holding his gut Tatsuki punched him in the stomach.

"There, now you really do have a reason to hold your stomach," Tatsuki said, brushing fake dirt off her hands.

"Tatsuki, that was mean," Orihime said from behind Sora.

"Yeah well he had it coming. Now come on, we have more houses to get to," she said, pulling the two fairy girls down the street toward the next open door.

"Trick or treat!" They all shouted (Ururu more quietly though).

"And Happy Halloween to you!" the woman replied. The baby on her lab was dressed in a pumpkin costume and looking up at the girls like they were the strangest things he'd ever seen. The baby's strawberry blond hair poked out from underneath his little hat, matching the pumpkin color.

"So cute!" Orihime cried, holding her hand out to shake the baby's little chubby one. "Don't you deserve every piece of candy there is in the world!" she cried, making the baby laugh.

"Yeah, good job," the mother said, holding out two candy bars to Orihime.

"Oh, but I didn't tell you my joke yet," Orihime/'Lily' replied.

"But you performed a trick. You got Gin Jr. laughing, and that's not easy to do!" the woman said happily, smiling at her son who was now trying to eat Orihime's hand. "Now, now, Gin, we don't eat the trick-or-treaters."

"Ha? I wasn't eatin' no'body," a tall man with silver hair appeared behind the woman. Clearly the boy got his hair color from his mom.

"Not you, Gin Jr. He's trying to eat our young fairy friend here," the mother replied, looking up at 'Gin'.

"Oh, ok, if he only eats a few a' them, that's fine," Gin replied.

"Gin!" the mother cried, as all the girls, including her, started laughing.

"Ok, let's hear some jokes now," the mother said, looking to Tatsuki and Ururu.

"Ok, where do baby ghosts go during the day?" Ururu asked.

The parents thought for a bit but both ended up just shaking their heads.

"Where?"

"Dayscare centers," Ururu replied with a smile.

The two laughed happily at the joke and gave her two pieces of candy.

"Ok. Tatsuki, your turn," Orihime said.

"Ok," the couple turned to look at the fighter.

"How do you mend a broken Jack-o-lantern?" she asked.

The couple thought…then shook their heads.

"With a pumpkin patch, of course!" Tatsuki said, swinging the baby-pumpkin's hands and getting another laugh out of little Gin Jr.

"A pumpkin patch," the mother laughed, giving her baby a hug, "That's perfect! And another laugh from Gin Jr.! Four pieces for you!" she said, dropping the candy into Tatsuki's bag.

Sora had stepped up while the jokes were being told and was whispering something in Orihime's ear. Seconds later she was giggling behind her hands.

"Can I tell a joke too?" Orihime asked, "Not for candy though."

"Sure dear," the mother replied.

"Ok, what did the baby ghost wear on his feet?" Orihime asked.

Blinking the parents looked to their son's feet, thinking. "I just don't know," the mother said.

"He wears Booooooo-ties!" Orihime said; tickling Gin Jr.'s feet. The baby laughed again and stuffed his orange gloved hands into his mouth, kicking his feet all he could.

The group broke out laughing again.

"That one deserves candy! I can't let you go without some! Come here," the mother said, holding out another three pieces.

"Oh, no, that's ok, I already got my share," Orihime replied politely.

"Oh, no, you come here and take this candy," the woman said again.

"You better do as she says, miss, my Ran can get scary when you disobey her," Gin said in a spooky voice.

"Ok," Orihime said quietly, holding open her bag. Ran dropped in the candy and with one last laugh from Gin Jr. the girls waved good-bye to the little family.

4-4

"Call me 'Tink'!" Nelliel cried from the head of the group. She was talking with Lilynette and trying to get the Fairy Princess to call her by her character's name, 'Tinker Bell.'

Starrk and Harribel shook their heads as the rest of the conversation disappeared from the air. "I can't wait till they learn to keep their voices down," Starrk said.

"I don't think that day will _ever_ come," Harribel replied glumly.

Szayel was currently taking count of the candy they had gathered. "I still think we need more, I can't help thinking that this isn't enough to beat the Humans and Shinigami. They have eight people, remember, we only have seven." The skeleton said, his glowing hand waving over the bags of candy.

"Well if Grimmjow would quite trying to take all the candy then we might have more by now," Harribel said. "At lease make him go last so the people don't think we are all going to be like him."

"No way, I'm leading this hunt, I go first!" Grimmjow hissed.

"All in favor of Grimm going last say 'Hai'," Harribel called.

Four 'Hai's were heard from the group.

"Nel-I mean, Tink, Lilynette, cast your vote. Should Grimmjow go last?" Starrk called.

The two girls turned from their conversation.

"Yes!" they cried together before turned to each other again.

"That's six 'Hai's and one 'Nei'. Majority rules Grimm, you go last," Harribel said, turning up the next walkway. Grimmjow grumbled at the back of the line; awaiting his turn impatiently.

Ulquiorra grimly walked up behind the group. This would be the twenty-second time he had to tell this dumb joke. Grimmjow's 'tricks' had gotten them nowhere within the first five minutes and the group had resorted to the old fashioned way of getting candy. Jokes.

Harribel stepped up first. "What's the ratio of a pumpkin's circumference to its diameter?" this only made the homeowner at the door blink wildly at the ten-year-old, along with half of her group.

"Pumpkin Pi," she said, giving up on an answer. The homeowner laughed a quick short laugh and placed three pieces in her bag.

Starrk was next. "What's a vampire's favorite candy?" he asked.

"I don't know," the home owner replied.

"A sucker," Starrk said, then held out his bag. With a small laugh the homeowner put three pieces of candy in Starrk's bag. Somewhere behind them one member of their group cheered quietly. Harribel and Starrk walked back to the street.

"Told you it would work," Harribel said as they passed Grimmjow.

'Tink' and Lilynette went next, each getting three pieces. Then it was Ulquiorra's turn.

The pale vampire approached the door way with his bag and held it open. Silence. The homeowners looked at each other than at the boy. More silence. The husband opened his mouth but the vampire merely narrowed his eyes dangerously. More silence. Quickly the wife dumped a handful of candy into his bag. "There you go, have a nice night," she said nervously. The vampire blinked in response and left the doorstep.

Ulquiorra walked past his group to the back without saying a thing.

"You are so weird, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow mumbled.

More silence.

4-4

The school was up ahead. Lights glowed from windows as the schools own Halloween party went on. Inside there were hunted classrooms for students and siblings to walk though and a costume contest at the end of the night.

Right now, the Human group was arriving at the gates.

"We had to have won; no way will those losers beat this load!" Ichigo was saying, struggling to carry his bag of candy. Having hauled it around for two hours, it was getting heavy and his arms were getting tired.

"What do you think Tatsuki? Think we will win?" Orihime asked, her bag swinging beside her.

"Maybe," Tatsuki agreed her eyes on the front door of the school. Standing around the entrance were the Shinigami, each in a costume and carrying a bag of candy. From where she was standing she could see most of their costumes. Momo was in a beautiful kimono and was standing between Byakuya, who looked like an emperor, and Toshiro who looked like a white dragon. Jushiro and Unohana stood side by side, one a gladiator and the other a nurse. The black and yellow hornet next to them had to be Soifon, it fit her perfectly. Renji stood at the front of the group, his black robs pulled around him and a scythe leaned against the building. Tatsuki had to admit, it looked good on him.

Ichigo walked up to the group. "Ready to lose?" he asked, his wizards hat standing tall on his head.

"As if," Renji called, a wicked smile on his face.

Ichigo looked around their group, sizing up their load, Tatsuki figured, until his body froze. Tatsuki turned to see what had stopped him. Rukia had stepped out of the building, the light behind her shining bright. She was dressing in a slimming and flowing garment of black and midnight blue with stars and moons glittering at the base of the outfit. A pointed witch's hat sat on her head, its silvery color glowing in the night. In her hand she held a realistic witch's broom to finish the look.

Tatsuki looked back at Ichigo, confused on why he was frozen. By now the boy had turned away, looking toward the building rather than the Shinigami, and not responding to Renji's taunts. Tatsuki didn't fail to see that Rukia and Ichigo were matching as witch and wizard, nor that both their faces reddened a bit in the dark.

Tatsuki chuckled.

"What's funny, Tat?" Orihime asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all…" Tatsuki said, turning away from the two spell-casters. Orihime let the matter drop as she watched the Shinigami.

"Momo and Byakuya look good together, don't they," she said, watching the two nobles.

"Yeah, if you like that kind of thing."

Back at the school yard entrance, a group of seven had just entered. Ulquiorra brought up the rear as they walked, his bag weighing down his right arm. Grimmjow was staking proudly up to the groups at the entrance, a cocky grin on his face.

"Are you losers ready to lose," He sneered.

"You really have a way with words, Grimmjow," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm just telling it like it is," the blue panther replied.

"What are you supposed to be anyway?"

"I'm the blue panther! What does it look like! And what about you? A wizard is so boring!"

"At least no one has to ask me."

"Now, now, let's not tear each other's throats out just yet."

The groups turned to see a slim woman standing at the school entrance. Dressed like a Hogwards teacher, the young woman assured them inside. Her white hair was hanging free from its usual braid and bun, and poked out from her hat. The gold and red lion roared from the embroidered emblem on her chest and a red and gold scarf hung from her neck. She was the school's nurse; Isane Kotetsu.

"Head up to the science lab, you'll find a useful scale in there," she said, pointing to the stairway. "Dr. Kurotsuchi is in charge of the lab tonight."

"Thank your Miss Kotetsu," Rukia said, bowing to the nurse.

"No problem." With a smile the nurse turned and headed down the hall.

The entire school was decked out in Halloween garb. Spider webs hung from every corner and door way. Pumpkins huddled in corners with bales of hay and scare-crows. Ever room the fourth grader's passed was a different Halloween theme. They passed a corn maze and mummy's tomb, a vampire's castle and haunted forests. And in each room kids from their school huddled together, ready for the scare of a lifetime as teachers and parents popped out of corners and coffins dressed in every costume imaginable. Screams rang from different rooms that soon turned into laughter as the students learned the monsters identity.

Orihime paused as they passed a room decorated like a murky swamp with fog billowing into the hallway. She watched as a group of students crept around the room, looking for the monster that inhabited the swamp and for the candy hidden within. One girl, dressed like Cinderella, opened up a desk and screamed as spiders sprung out from their nest. The spiders dangled from springs, bouncing back and forth. The other students laughed at Cinderella, whose hands covered her mouth as she recovered. Before the students stopped laughing, a large muck monster crept up behind them; grabbing one of the boys' and roared. The laughter turned into screams as the kids fled the monster.

Orihime laughed at the monster, recognizing old Baraggan under the green moss and black webbing. He had been their teacher two years earlier.

"What are you doing?"

The creepy voice caused Orihime to jump and scream, unprepared to be snuck up upon. Turning she saw the vampire known as Ulquiorra, his green eyes shining in the dim lights.

"You scared me!" she shouted, almost taking a whack at the boy. "I could hit you for that you know!" she cried, hitting the air in front of the boy

"I only asked what you were doing; you do not have to damage my hearing," the boy said, turning he walked down the hallway, after the group.

"Hey, wait up!" Orihime cried, running after him. Falling in step beside Ulquiorra, Orihime turned to him with a smile on her face.

"Did you enjoy the trick-or-treating?" she asked him, taking a look at his treat bag.

"It was acceptable," he said.

"That's it? Well I had fun; I got this cute little baby to laugh with my jokes! He was adorable!" Orihime said, laughing. Ulquiorra merely nodded.

He could see her from the corner of his eye as she started on about some baby named Gin Jr. and jokes about baby ghosts. He let her ramble; after all, he really didn't have anything to say. It was clear she enjoyed her night as she needed only a nod of his head to keep up talking. It seemed she had only just started telling him about the evening (and still had much to say) when they arrived in the 'laboratory' classroom.

The school scientist, a rather creepy fellow any day of the year, took today to dress even more so. He wore a white coat over an old-time black kimono with black detailing. His unusual blue hair was done up in a large arch over his head, reminding Orihime of an Egyptian pharaoh, his hair being the golden headdress they wore. The man's face was painted black with his cheeks in white, accentuated by gold items that made up his ears and chin. And a large purple collar rose up behind his head.

His whole costume reminded Orihime of anime characters, that, and it made her want to run away.

Their group entered the Frankenstein Lab, complete with crumbling stone walls and a large electric storm playing in a glass ball on the ceiling. Dr. Kurotsuchi was just finishing scaring some first graders into tears and turned excitedly to his newest group of victims.

"New test subjects, I always love getting new test subjects!" he cried, creeping forward, giving each student a careful look over. Now Orihime had an even better view of the mad man. And the one thing she missed the first time was his right hand. Not only were all his nails blue, but his middle fingernail was inches long, doubling the length of his finger. Orihime was beginning to miss his usual scary appearance of shaggy blue hair. No makeup then.

Orihime had been so preoccupied with his nails that she failed to relies he had stopped in front of her. And he was talking to her too. "If you work for me, I'll treat you well and how about this? I'll give you top class special treatment. I'll only drug you eight times a day and only four hours of machine operations a day. You will eat with your mouth. And I'll stay away from any life-threatening operations if I operate on you. This is a special offer that I've never offered to any test subject before. How about it?"

Orihime felt the color draining from her face. Swiftly, before she could answer, Ulquiorra had stepped between the mad man and herself.

"We are not here to participate in the haunted house," he said, he slowly pointed to a large golden scale system that looked like it came straight out of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The mad man, Dr. Kurotsuchi, turned his eyes to the vampire. His eyes narrowed. "Ooh, a vampire? They are a rare breed. I haven't seen a live one for many years. However, I'm sorry, but I've already finished studying your kind. I have absolutely no interest in you," he said, turning away from the boy. Before he could continue to speak with Orihime, Renji had walked up as well.

"We want to weigh our candy! The group with the most candy wins! You have to let us use the scale or we're leaving!" Renji called, pointing to the scale.

Dr. Kurotsuchi's eyes narrowed farther. This next statement came out like venom. "Test subjects shouldn't run their mouths so much. This is an experiment. You don't have the right to make any decisions here," he said.

Byakuya stepped forward. "There is a score here that needs to be settled, if we may use the scale for a few minutes we will be out of your way and you may continue with your experiments."

"And why should I do as you ask," the mad man said, unfazed.

"You will let us use the scale, Dr. Kurotsuchi."

The mad man turned to see Retsu dressed in her nurse's outfit. When he turned to her, she opened her eyes slowly, a small sweet smile on her face. The mad man's own eyes widened at this. Slowly he made his way to the scale.

"Very well, but do this quickly, now, what are you weighing?" he asked defensively, moving the scale to a large board that imitated the table Frankenstein should be laying on.

"The candy, we want to know which of the three groups got the most," Retsu said kindly.

"Very well, choose two and the winner will go up against the third group," the mad man said, looking to the group.

"We'll go last, because we know we are going to beat you all!" Grimmjow hollered, jumping up to sit on a table, he sat his bag down beside him. With that the rest of the Espada joined him, awaiting their turn to be weighed.

"Guess we are first," Renji said. He stepped forward and set his bag on the scale's pan, sending the arm downward.

"Oh no. No bags allowed candy only," Dr. Kurotsuchi said, emptying the bag into the scale pan.

"But then we won't know whose candy is whose! We won't get back the right amount!" Renji cried.

"Too bad, the bag would throw off the measurement. No bags or no weighing," the mad man said. "Next!"

"Renji just do as he says," Rukia called.

Ichigo stepped forward this time, and dumped his candy on the second pan. The scale bobbed as it evened out and settled with Renji's candy hanging higher than Ichigo's.

"What!" Renji hollered. "But my stack is bigger! That scale must be broken!"

"That is impossible. I checked the measurements after I set it up just a few hours ago. It is correct," the mad man said. "Next!"

Rukia's stash brought the arm down and Keigo's evened it out some. Then Byakuya's vs. Chad's; Toshiro's vs. Mizuiro's. Over again until all sixteen bags had been emptied. Everyone watched with rapped attention as the scale bobbed one way then the other. No one breathed as it slowed down, bobbing less and less. And eventually it came to a stop. Orihime's team's pan was lower than the Shinigami's.

"Well, looks like Mr. Kurosaki and his team win this round," the mad man said. No one saw his slight glance at Retsu, or the bead of sweat that had formed on his black forehead. Everyone was too busy watching Renji shout and complain.

"That can't be right! There has to be a mistake! We need to use a different scale. See if this one is off! It has to be off!" Renji argued, looking around for a different scale. Rukia was nodding her agreement, looking with him. Meanwhile Ichigo was laughing his head off, pointing at the two.

"Can't take a little competition, can you! You lost! Face it!" he laughed while Keigo was pumping his fists in the air.

"Alright, alright, settle down, we still have the third group to measure," said Dr. Kurotsuchi as he dumped the Shinigami's candy on to the table. He held the pan with the Human's candy up so that the scale was level, as to not strain the arm, and beckoned the Espada forward.

"Alright, time to show you who's boss," Grimmjow called, jumping back down from the table. "Ok Starrk first!" he called, pointing the boy forward.

Confused the brown blob moved forward non-the-less and tipped his bag into the scale. With all of the Human's candy in the second pan, it was impossible to tell if this one bag did any good. Lilynette skipped forward, dropping in her stash. Next was Harribel, then Nelliel, followed by Ulquiorra. Grimmjow finally stepped forward to tip his candy in and Szayel went immediately after, spreading out his candy all over the pan in a nice layer.

The mad man released any pressure he as holding from the Human's side of the scale and everyone watched as the scale plummeted down on the Espada's side. A large whoop was heard from Grimmjow and Szayel as the clear winner was revealed. Everyone else's faces fell.

"How 'bout that, Kurosaki, beat ya big time! You'll never live this down now! Not _Ever_!" Grimmjow gloated, poking Ichigo in the chest. Ichigo shook with anger at Grimmjow, his fists coming up fast. In seconds the two were on the ground, fighting it out.

"No wait a minuet here," Dr. Kurotsuchi said slowly. "It looks like there has been some foul play here." The mad man was examining the scale's pans. Particularly, the Espada's side. Whatever he saw, he didn't like it.

His hand stretched forward and began moving the candy around and slowly he uncovered a large plastic bag. He lifted it up for the room to see. It was a five pound bag of candy, clearly and undeniably _store bought_.

"What have we here?" he said, looking toward the Espada. "No house I know gives out five pound bags, so where could this have come from?"

The room turned to the Espada. Some were steaming with anger others glowered at the group, but none as much as Szayel who stomped forward and gave Grimmjow a punch in the side of the head.

"You didn't even bother to dump it out of the bag! Did you really think that would fool anyone if it was still in the bag!" Szayel said, hitting Grimmjow again.

"You cheat!" Ichigo yelled, doubling the whipping Grimmjow was getting.

While the three stayed on the ground, hitting and yelling, the rest of the classroom turned back to the scales. The golden pans had evened out during the outburst and now hung, still as stone, on the scales arm. A new winner revealed.

No one groaned now, only the Human's started cheering. At least, the loud, male humans did.

"Ichigo! We won! We Won!" Keigo shouted, having grabbed hold of Mizuiro and started jumping up and down.

"What?!" Ichigo yelled from the ground. He paused in his fist throwing to look at Keigo.

"WE Won! Not them!" Keigo shouted.

"Sweet!" Ichigo said as a fist impacted his cheek. "Grimmjow!"

And the fight continued.

"Yes well, it appears the Kurosaki team has won, and as for Mr. Jaegerjaquez, stop punching Mr. Kurosaki, and see me in detention on Wednesday," Dr. Kurotsuchi said, "Now come collect your candy and be on your way! I have students to experi-I mean scare."

It took longer to divide up the candy then it did to weigh it, the more childish boys wanting more than they were getting. But finally the fourth graders made their way out of the lab and back into the hallway.

"I can't believe we lost to those pathetic Human's," Grimmjow muttered, his head hung low.

"I can't believe you didn't take the candy out of the bag! That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen!" Szayel said, hitting Grim one more time.

"It just goes to show you, you can't win by cheating," Rukia said loftily.

"Hey, we never found out who came in second," Renji cried, having just realized this fact.

"If you want to go back, go ahead, I've had enough of this," Toshiro said, heading farther away from the group.

"Hey, wait up Shiro!" Momo called, hurrying after the boy.

"We do know Renji," Rukia stated. "The Espada's stash made the Human's stash go down farther than ours did, thus ours was closer in weight to the Human's than theirs. We came in second."

"Oh, well in that case," Renji turned to the Espada. "HA! We beat you all! You get last!"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes at the red-haired idiot, and turned to Orihime. "Time to head home I guess."

"Yeah, I can't wait to look through all the candy I got," Orihime said happily.

"Right," Tatsuki smiled.

The two bid goodbye to Ururu, her guardians having been at the school already, she didn't have to leave yet. The other fourth graders were splitting up as well. Ichigo was walking his sisters' home, Chad and Uryu headed home together and Keigo and Mizuiro as well.

Tatsuki and Orihime chatted adamantly on the way home. Tatsuki examined Orihime's costume some more and they exchanged different jokes that had been heard throughout the night. As they were nearing home, Orihime turned to see Ulquiorra walking silently behind them. Tatsuki turned to see Orihime had stopped. She waited a few feet away as Ulquiorra joined Orihime at the gate to his yard.

"Did you have fun tonight Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked, smiling.

The boy shrugged indifferently and nodded to Tatsuki in greeting.

"I love your costume, it suites you a lot, well, not the blood sucking part, but the sophisticated gentleman part. Did you have teeth to go with it? I never saw you ware any," Orihime said.

"Grimmjow got some but I never put them in," he said, holding up a set of glowing fanged teeth.

"Well that would have been kind of creepy; them glowing in your mouth and all," Orihime replied, looking closely at the teeth. Ulquiorra nodded his agreement.

Orihime was just about to say good-bye when a screech came through the night air. The group looked up to see bats having come out for the night, swooping around the blackened sky.

"Cool," Orihime said softly, watching the black masses.

As they watched one bat in particular seemed to be circling them closely. Orihime gasped as it flew around her head.

Ulquiorra barely suppressed his smile when he held out his right arm. Instantly the bat landed on his clothing sleeve. It crawled down to hang from Ulquiorra's sleeve, tiny claws clinging to the fabric, tiny wings wrapping around its body.

"Oh!" Orihime gasped, her hands covering her mouth in awe. "That's so cool! It's like it knows you!" she cried, looking from the bat to Ulquiorra and back.

"It does. This is Murciélago," Ulquiorra said. Raising his arm higher so Orihime and the bat were at eye level.

"He's adorable," she breathed, leaning in to look at the creature. It opened its mouth to squeak at her and revealed tiny white teeth. "Aahhh." Seconds later the bat dropped from Ulquiorra's arm and into flight. Ulquiorra lowered his arm.

"He comes home when the sun rises to stay in the bat house in our backyard," he explained.

"Really?"

Ulquiorra nodded, "I should be getting in, Happy Halloween, Little Girl," he said, nodding to her and then to Tatsuki.

"Happy Halloween, Ulquiorra," Orihime waved good-bye. He nodded once more before closing his front door.

"Happy Halloween," he murmured again into the dark.

-4-

-4-

-4-

In case you were wondering, here is everyone's costumes:

Orihime – Lily  
Tatsuki – Fighter Campion  
Ururu – Ayame  
Ichigo – Wizard  
Uryu – Archer  
Chad – Bigfoot  
Keigo – Darth Vader  
Mizuiro – Pirate

Renji – Grim Reaper  
Rukia – Witch  
Byakuya – Emperor  
Unohana – Nurse  
Jushiro – Gladiator  
Soifon – Bee/Hornet  
Toshiro – Ice Dragon  
Momo – Kimono Cutie

Starrk – Couch Potato  
Harribel – Wandering Samurai  
Ulquiorra – Vampire  
Grimmjow – Blue Panther  
Szayel – Skeleton  
Nelliel – Tinker Bell  
Lilynette – Fairy Princess

* * *

Reviews are appreciated! Thanks to yoyogigi125 and Seihana who sent in reviews for this story.

The continuation to this story is posted: A Thanksgiving Day Get-Together


End file.
